Well, I’ve finally done it. I bought a 300w solar panel and a charge controller and I’m messing about learning how this technology can be incorporated into my lifestyle. I already have a wood burner and I’ve collected a load of wood, so I’ll be nice and warm this Winter (I can cook on the woodburner too). The cost of electricity is simply unaffordable and it’ll go up by 77% in October to around 50p per KWh, and then, again in January ’23, as Ofgem have now revised their rules to review the energy price cap every three months.
So, the solar panel and controller cost £37 off ebay and I wasn’t expecting a lot, but, I’ve been pleasantly surprised. The solar panel works really well even out of direct sunlight. I’m using an old car battery to store the energy and I’ve hooked it up to a 12v LED rope light, but, I’m already looking at a cheap inverter and another solar panel kit. The National Grid can no longer supply affordable electric, so it’s time we started generating our own and got “off grid”. I’m doing it one solar panel at a time and replacing “grid power” with “solar power” one appliance at a time. I’d thought about doing this for a very long time, but I’m very glad that I’ve finally got round to taking some action. The Government could solve the energy crisis by putting solar panels on every rooftop in UK, but, that isn’t going to happen, certainly not in my lifetime.
The only 300W panels I saw on eBay at that price are those about the size of a sheet of A4 (and at that size you can’t even collect anything like 300W of solar energy) and the short-circuit current is actually about 3W. (I got my money refunded.)
I have done, however, what you have here with a 100W panel from an Amazon lightning sale and it’s powering the lighting and a couple of Raspberry Pi machines in my study.
Hi, yes my 300w panel is about 5w, but I have litlle system that powers a light, and I’ve learned a bit. Like a propoer system costs at least £5,000. cheers.